While brassieres are available in a large number of configurations and designs, most of them permanently interconnect cups of the brassiere at the front thereof and provide a rear closure of the hook-and-eye or other type of connecting rear straps of the garment. The brassiere can be provided with shoulder straps which are adjustable and, in the case of maternity brassieres, can have special fittings enabling one or the other cup to be lowered to expose the breast for nursing purposes. For many women manipulation of a back closure is difficult and hence, for arthritics, the convenience of a front closure is significant.
In an earlier front closure for a brassiere, a male member was fitted into a female member by longitudinally sliding a bar of the male member practically over its entire length into a channel provided in the female member. The result of this sliding action enabled the two members to be locked relative to one another by swinging the two members about an axis of the bar into a locked position in which the two members could not be separated.
For ease of manipulation, particularly by women with arthritic conditions, and for some brassiere designs in which the fabric pieces at the front of the brassiere are relatively wide, the closure must be comparatively long and any interfitting of the male and female members with the need to displace the male member into the channel over practically the full height or length of the closure, made connection of the two closure parts difficult. Indeed, closures of that type could not readily be transformed into long or high closures without running the risk that manipulation would be difficult.